Honeysweet pear fail

ltiltonAugust 19, 2012

I'd been waiting 7 years for this tree to fruit. At last, this year, a dozen fruits. I bagged them, the squirrels got some, and I waited.

Finally, this month, with everything ripening so early, I started to wonder if they were ripe, even though very very small. I lifted them up to see if they'd separate. Are you ripe yet? Nope and nope. Finally, today, one of them broke free.

A friend of mine, who has an orchard with peaches, pears and apples, that the first harvest of a fruit isn't its best. The fruits will not taste optimally sweet, however, by second harvest, it will be a lot better.
Just be sure to fertilize your tree at the correct times. A fertilizer with a high phosphorus content will allow the tree to make more fruits that are sweeter.

I got one from Miller's and it's on its 3rd year of Neutral. Cut it back, got some growth a month ago. Enough to train a new leader? Nope. I have great hopes for my big Bartlett/Ayers next year. Good luck.

Supposedly Honeysweet is self-fertile and cold-hardy and also resistant to fire blight. It sounds like the perfect pear. I sure want to know what others have experienced. The rootstock I ordered it on is OHxF 87. It is a cross of Seckel.

Cummins' website says, "The fruit can be picked the 2nd week in September in Lafayette, Ind." It doesn't sound like it should have been over-ripe for you.

I remember a thread from a few months ago regarding bagged pears. You did mention that you had not had any problem with bagging them, but planatus put a link that was interesting regarding reduced quality. I decided not to bag mine after reading the article.